


Boomtown or Bust

by karrenia_rune



Category: Firefly and Stargate SG-1
Genre: Challenge: multiverse500, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-22
Updated: 2010-05-22
Packaged: 2017-10-09 15:43:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/88993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karrenia_rune/pseuds/karrenia_rune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For whatever reason that Malcolm Reynolds has yet to determine; there simply is no just thing as a routine job; not even something that should be as straight forward as a mineral survey.  For Cameron Mitchell it is just another day at the office.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Crossed Paths and Mixed Signals

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mandysbitch](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=mandysbitch).



Disclaimer: SG-1 and all related characters belongs to MGM, Gekko Film Corporation; they are not mine. Firefly is the creation of Joss Whedon; again not mine, they are only 'borrowed' for the purposes of the story and will be returned after I am done with them.

 

"Boomtown or Bust" by Karen

The Mule cut through the cloud like an over-sized bulky knife cutting through cloth. The thrum of its engine a constant if muffled background in its passengers' ears. Jayne Cobb groaned and muttered with each buck, roll, and thud and as he was just about to let the pilot know in no uncertain times his opinion on the matter.

However, the next jounce caused him to lose his balance, and the strap on his harness snapped, and fell over backward off the rear end of the vehicle.

"Everyone okay, back there?" Kaylee asked over her shoulder without turning around.

Jayne had just time enough for one last muttered oath and suddenly and the next thing he knew he was grasping for dear life at the jutting upright metal strut at the back of the small personnel craft for dear life.

Oh, he was not afraid, it was not like they were being chased by an Alliance or other type of authority, despite the several warrants out for their arrest, and they were not being shot at; so there was that. Jayne felt more than a little pride in keeping his cool in the middle of a firefight, but this was different was it not?

River had turned around in her seat, her eyes wide and liquid in pixie-like face as she stretched out her hand to him, in an attempt to haul him back aboard the craft. If he hadn't known any better, he would found the entire situation knee-slapping hilarious. Tiny, slender all of ninety pound girl trying his haul ass up when he outweighed all of them by a good fifteen pounds or more.

In the back of his mind Jayne thought, "Damm gorram luck. Mal is never going to let me live this one down.'

Fifteen minutes later, Mal Reynolds, with a wry only partially apologetic smile creasing the lines of his face, brought the Mule to a landing on the pad several clicks outside of the town and unstrapped himself from his own seat.

Hopping over to where Jayne dangled, leant over at the waist and grabbing his other wrist, helped River pull back onboard.

In the back of his mind Mal thought, "What the hell, the big lug is useful to have around in a fight, and I've gotten accustomed to his 'charming personality, anyway, what difference does it make?"

"About bleeding time," Jayne groaned as he reached out to accept the hands outstretched to him.

As soon as they let go and Jayne sprawled breathing heavily for a few seconds, feeling quite boneless and a little bit conspicuous in that position with the remainder of the crew busy unloading the supplies and preparing to leave the ship and go out into the nearby town.

Jayne stood up and with a wry grin, he muttered to Mal, 'Thanks, I think."

River, for her part, nodded and wandered off to help Kaylee with packing the last of the supplies.

"That the last of it?" Mal asked.

"Yes, sir," replied Kaylee with a cheerful grin curving the corners of her mouth, the bright colors of her head scarf catching the mid-morning rays of the sun slanting down from overhead.

"Okay, then, let's go."

**  
Elsewhere

Their destination was a planet in the Sagittarius sector designated on their star charts as PSX-0058, a planet with promising reserves of a vital element in the processing of the Naquada according to the preliminary reports of the probe that they had been sent through about a week ago.

Another mark in its favor which General Landry had also been quite eager to point out during the pre-mission briefing was that it was far enough away from most of the major space traffic to likely not attract the attention of the System Lord or more importantly, the Ori.

Daniel Jackson had his own ideas of what to expect, and after emerging on the other side of the gate and walking into town, he was a little bit taken by surprise. Mostly because the town seemed so out of place.

It looked more like a way-station or the stage set out of an old western movie. Not that he was any judge of such things; after all his area of expertise fell into the category of ancient civilizations and language; old Earth folklore he did not.

Daniel realized with a start that he was staring and with Vala's sharp elbow poking him in his flank, he started walking again.

Standing still in the middle of the street he realized that he was in danger of getting run down by a man on horseback barreling down from the opposite direction.

Daniel moved aside at the last minute ignoring the darting glare the man on horseback favored him with as he swept past.

Cameron Mitchell and Teal'C where discussing in hushed undertones the best way to approach the locals on the subject of mining rights or where to begin searching for the promised minerals.

While they were doing that Vala was looking around, her long dark braid swinging behind her and an inquisitive gleam in her eye, which, to Daniel's way of thinking never boded good for anyone caught up in her wake.

If Vala heard Cameron's whispered caution to stay with the group she chose to ignore it.

The locals seemed only mildly curious about the newcomers as they went about their business. Vala tossed back her head and choosing one of the many drinking establishments apparently at random, walked towards it and swept through the door, leaving it swinging behind her disappearing form.

Cameron sighed and shrugged as if to say, "What else can we do? We go after her."

**  
The bar was crowded and noisy, and smoky, but apparently doing a thriving business. Daniel finally spotted Vala making her way through the crowd to a table in rear of the building. They caught up with her and sat down at the table she had chosen. Nearby another group came in.

Daniel, curiously looking up caught the gaze of a girl with a pixie-like face and the biggest most liquid brown eyes he had ever seen.

The man she was with had his hand clasped around her elbow, and Daniel thought, 'He looks like he believes she was made of glass and cobwebs, as if he's afraid that if he lets her go, even for an instant, that she'll shatter into a million pieces. What is he so afraid of?'

Mal chose a table near the back of the bar, allowing the others to order for him as he glanced around without being too obvious about doing so, wondering where in the hell their contact had gotten to.

Despite a little engine trouble starting out, which Kaylee had dealt with in her usual style and skill, and rescuing Jayne from his tumble off of the Mule, they had still made good time arriving her. Badger should have been waiting for them, and if he was running late, should have sent a message at least.

Okay, so they were technically flirting on the fringes of being on the wrong side of the law, but still common courtesy dictated some kind of message.

A man showed up his hair standing up in tufts like a field of brown grass, his long duster coat draped around his lanky frame as he shuffled into the bar and made his way to the table where Mal Reynolds and the others waited for him. "Sorry, I'm late," he said to the group in general as he took the empty seat at the table.

"Badger, we had a deal," Mal replied.

"I realize that,' the man called Badger replied," and really, Mal, how long have we known each other. You know I never back out of a deal. I'm here now, aren't I?"

Jayne glanced over at the smaller man and made a show of cracking his knuckles before adding. "Yeah, wanna make something of it!" Jayne rumbled.

"Down boy," Badger smiled a tight wry grin.

"Look, I did as you asked. I got the permits for the iron ore, easy as you please, and the authorities need never know that you had anything to do with it."

Badger smiled and this example looked very smug and pleased with his own cleverness, unlike the previous example which had appeared forced and a little uncomfortable with not only Jayne's implied threat but also his proximity. The big man had a reputation for a short fuse and mean fighting style.

Vala, after placing their orders for a round of drinks, got up from her table and sauntered over to where the others were engaged in discussion on low grade versus high grade iron ore. And with her fists on her hips she smiled and said. "Howdy, boys and girls, pardon for me interrupting, but I couldn't help but overhear, and I was wondering if you could help me out of a little bit of a jam?"

Mal looked up and caught her eye. "Yes, what can we do for you?"

"Well, as luck would have it, we seem to have similar interests. You're looking for something special am I right? My friends and I," she pivoted on one heel and paused to gesture with her thumb at the rest of the SG-1 team seated at the opposite table. "are also looking for something special, except we don't even know where to begin looking for it."

"Why are you looking for it?" asked Jayne suspiciously and in the back of his mind Jayne thought, "Okay, I admit it, I am a sucker for a pretty face, but I haven't survived this long to be fooled into thinking that this dame might not be an Alliance spy; or she could be on the level. There's always that.'

"Cam, Daniel,' Teal'C , Vala said, "Come over here, I've got someone you guys should talk to. I think they can help us."

"I know a dodge when I see one," Mal added.

"I'm not avoiding the question," replied Vala, "I'm just making certain that we get it right the first time."

"You're assuming an awful lot," Badger said with an nervous tic beginning at the corner of his right eye.

"Of course," Vala smiled pretending not to notice the twitchy man's nervous tic.

"Again, why are you looking for the ore?" Mal asked curious despite his initial doubts and his own cautious and oftentimes paranoid nature. Thus far neither side in this negotiation had made any over threatening moves, but it only took a little to tip the balance over into a fight.

"I think introductions are in order. The name's Cameron Mitchell, these are my friends, "Doctor Daniel Jackson, Teal'C, and you've already met Vala Mal Doran."

Cameron paused and then thought over his next words before adding. "I understand that you're also interested in the ore. I think we can work out a mutually beneficial deal where we both get what we want, what do you say?"

"I'm willing to hear you out," Mal replied with a brief nod, and the name's Malcolm Reynolds, this is Jayne Cobb, Kaylee Frye, and the Tams: River and Simon."

"Okay, with that out of the way," Daniel added and then trailed off uncertain of how to proceed.

"Look, our sources indicate that there should be more than enough to go around. Our problem is we don't know where to begin looking for it. Maybe if you could help locate or even point us in the right direction, we could split the take." Cameron sighed and reached up to comb his fingers through his short crew-cut ash blond hair.

Mal liked the idea but he was uncertain whether or not to trust this stranger, after all the clothes they wearing said more than a little that they were representatives of some kind of military outfit, one that he did not immediately recognize, but his gut instincts were screaming at him, that this was an opportunity to good to pass up.

"For the sake of argument," Mal replied. "Let's say we agree to help you, what's in it for us?"

"Now we come to it," Daniel muttered under his breath.

"Shut up, Daniel," Vala whispered back.

"We come along, we get a take of whatever we find, no questions asked."

"Agreed," Cameron replied and stretching out his hand across the span of the tabletop closed the deal.

***  
The dig site was far enough away that it was unlikely that the locals would come all the way out here to dispute their digging up the ground. Vala actually did not mind the fact that Captain Reynolds had insisted on getting a piece of the action, in fact, she admired that trait, for the promised cut of the profits.

Her own teammates were not as interested in making the big score, too busy as they were to play by the rules but there was always room for a little fun. Goodness knew she could use some after everything that they had been through.

"The bigger the risk the bigger the payoff." That had always been her motto and it was a good one.

She was quite conscious of the big man, Jayne Cobb, admiring glances on her but Vala did not really mind. In fact, she might have been offended if they had not been.

The amusement value that came from having the proper accessories to go with the standard issue green and olive field flak jackets had begun to wear a bit thin. Vala would not let a little thing like the bad fashion sense of her Tauri allies deter her for long. It was vanity, yes, but a little ego-stroking was all to the good, right?'  
**

Once actual full-scale digging had begun one thing stood out in Mal's mind, all of the supplies that Cameron Mitchell's crew had brought with them bore the stamp of power that had not been seen in any part of the 'verse' for hundreds of years.

In fact, if Wash had been there he would have immediately recognize the horizontal blue and red stripes and stars as originating on the Earth-that-was. Mal had a good mind to press Mitchell and his team on the matter, but shoved it aside as more pressing matters demanded his immediate attention.

Mitchell and the big fellow introduced as Teal'c both stepped forward with some kind of hand-held gizmo that whirred and clicked and whose readouts lit up with a pastel green glow.

"Let's get to it. Jayne prep the explosives," Mal said.

"Consider it done, boss," replied Jayne.

Jayne had the padded headsets already unpacked and on when lit the fuse on the explosives warning everyone to step back . The heat from the blast was intense, hotter even that of the sun.

The others once they had access to the rare element put on gloves and armed with shovels, ropes, and metal canisters formed into two teams, and to be fair, Mal had to agree that if they were going to share in the profits, it made sense to share in the labor of getting the stuff out; equally divided among the members of both crews.

River and her brother had been teamed with Cameron Mtichell and to Mal's way of thinking he hoped for both their sakes that River did go all dreamy and strange on them in mid-task.

Many hours later, and at could half a dozen metal canisters filled to the brim with the ore, Mitchell called a rest break. Gratefully sinking down on the crowd Mal took off his brown coat and wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his white shirt sleeve.

He accepted with a nod of thanks to Kaylee the offered flask of water and tilting it back Mal swallowed it down. "I just hope all of this was worth it."

Vala stepped up beside him. "Try and be more positive."

"You know what you're problem is?" Jayne remarked as he plunked down a heavy canister.

"No, but I suspect that you are going to tell me," Mal replied.

"You're just sore from doing manual labor, that what it will be, right enough," the big man replied.

"Indeed," Teal'C rumbled from where he stood with Doctor Jackson who was tabulating the weight, quality and properties of the ore and figuring out the percentage of take each team would receive once they were finished up here.

Simon Tam, curious despite his initial reservations about the undertaking from the get go ambled over and peered over their shoulders at the numbers scrolling across the screen of the device. He frowned but aside from that seemed to agree with what he saw.

River had been quiet up until now and Mal had hoped that it was a good sign, that whatever the Alliance doctors had done to her she was beginning to recover, or at least lessen her occasional outbursts.

She rocked back and forth, alarming but not dangerous. River eyes glazed over and she grasped onto Mitchell's arm. "When troubles come, they do not come like single spies, but in battalions; be ready."

Shaking off River's grip and the unease he felt at her words, Cameron Mitchell turned to her brother, and asked "What the hell is going on here?" he demanded.

Simon Tam for his part just shook his head and replied. "She is usually much more lucid than that. My guess is as good as yours, but I'd say we're in for some trouble."

 

**

The first sign that all was not well were the tearing of shrubbery and the crinkling of dry grass underfoot.

The locals were armed with old-fashioned flint-lock pistols and a few sported more modern laser pistols. Mitchell turned to his teammates, and said. "Maybe we can reason with them, barring that, defend yourselves if attacked, but try not to hurt them."

Jayne darted a glance at the tall, slender man and shrugged. "Don't sit right me, the way I figure, they attack us, we fight back, none of this pussy-footing around."

"You got a better idea, now would be an ideal time," replied Cameron with a shrug of his own.

The apparent leader of the group was a big man with salt and pepper hair and a matching mustache. He was a big, heavy-set, with dark heavy-lidded blue eyes. He probably had been strong in his youth but it appeared that much of his bulk had run to fat, still it would be a mistake to underestimate any of them.

"The ways I see it, we can't have folks from outside come 'around these parts, a digging' up our land."" he said by way of introduction.

"We have permits," Kaylee chimed in. "If you want proof that we have every right to be here."

The leader stumped forward and reaching out a free hand he waited for Kaylee to produce the papers. "I'm a fair man, girlie, let me these papers, then."

Kaylee stepped back a pace but then with a grin grabbed the back lying at her feet and rummaging through it for a second finally came up with the documents and showed them to the big man.

He took them from here and glanced at them. "It all seems to be in order."

Vala added "I fail to see the problem here, we were acting on the understanding that if we managed to obtain proper documentation, then we could dig anywhere we wanted to, within reason."

"Is she always this annoying," Jayne asked Daniel Jackson who stood beside him in their ragged two rows deep line.  
"Actually, this is relatively mild example," Daniel replied with a sigh. "But she does have a point."

"I was hoping for something more along the lines of you violating our land and mining rights" the big man sighed as he handed back the documentation to Kaylee. "However, I'm a fair man. How much have you already collected?"

"Enough," Mal replied and Cameron stepped forward to emphasis that they had not been all those hours of labor to walk away empty-handed.

"Okay, the big man replied. "You can take what you got already, just don't come back here no more. I ain't entirely sure what the stuff does, but it's valuable right enough."

"Agreed." Mal and Cameron said at the same time, sharing a significant glance with each other.

A potential fight had been averted, and in the back of his mind Cameron felt thought that he should be grateful that they had Mal and his team along, getting to the element was hard enough, but they needed that rare element if they were going to have enough Naqauda on hand to be able to fight off the Ori. He did not care to think why Mal and his crew needed it; but at this point Cameron figured it did not really matter.

Conclusion

Jayne plunked down on the crates stacked in the hold and thumbed back the plastic cap from a nondescript brown bottle.

He sighed and rocked back and forth before lifting a brown bottle to his lips and downed a healthy swallow of the liquid inside. It was just like Mal to allow a big score to slip right through their fingers at the very instant they would have closed on the payoff. Okay, so it really was not entirely Mal's fault.

The locals were restless and how were they to know beforehand that it had some kind of religious or historical value going into the deal? Badger should have warned them, but it had been just like him to omit that vital piece of information.

Meanwhile, back at the SGC Vala finished drying out her long hair, fresh out of the chair convinced that she had scrubbed out the worst of the dirt and grit and sand from her hair and skin, thinking that it had not been a bad idea to team up with Captain Reynolds and his crew.

In fact, if it had not been for their help they would never have come away with a good metric weight of quality iron ore: mission accomplished," she thought as she hung up the towel and moved to pick up her clothes.

Vala sat down on her bed and pulled on her undergarments, and then her shirt and slacks.   
And really now that big one, what was his name, Jayne? Well, not everything we do has to be about extracting the best possible military, diplomatic or strategic value from it.'


	2. Can't Take the Sky from Me

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 belongs to MGM, Gekko Film Corp, and Renaissance Pictures; as do all of the characters who appear here or are mentioned; they are not mine. Firefly is the creation of Joss Whedon and the WB; it is not mine. Note: The story picks up shortly after where "Boomtown or Bust" left off with a short interlude taken into consideration.

"Can't Take the Sky from Me" by Karen

 

'The verse is wide and unpredictable and vast and has the unfortunate tendency to be quite heedless of the motes of life that traverse it. '

He rolled over on the bed and kicked off the sheets that had become entangled around his bare feet before continuing to expound on his current theme.

'One would think, " Mal Reynolds mused, leaning back against one of the walls of his quarters. 'One really would think that kind of thinking would get a man down but instead it only drives him on and my crew are certainly not bent on trying to out-hero decorated war-heroes. We're just trying to carve a better life.'

He had already been down in the engine room knocking his head on one of the low-hanging beams on the way in and indulging in a long string of curses before he got down to the business at hand. He wanted to know if Kaylee had made any progress with the newly acquired of liquid ore that they could convert into a much needed fuel supply.

Running a ship got expensive even for one the size of the Firefly and while that had come as a lucky break of late they were experiencing something of a mild drought on the new jobs front.

With a rueful shake of his head and a few strands of his hair falling down into his eyes was when Mal realized that a mild drought between jobs was nothing new and if it had just been him and Jayne, and Zoe and Wash they might have weathered it a good sight better.

The presence of the Tams in general and in particular River had an unfortunate tendency to muddy those proverbial waters.

In his heart of hearts Mal had long since accepted the fact that he would no more let River go and by extension let her brother Simon go, then he would let any of his crew come to harm; and that was no lie.

'So, he wondered, not for the first time, have I made a mistake somewhere along the line?   
If it is, in point of fact, a mistake, how should I go about repairing the damage?'

 

And as strained as their first encounter with the group who had been contesting proprietary rights to the ore maybe they would now be interested in some kind of trade negotiations.

Mal had not had much time to take stock of the details of their weaponry mainly because of the averted confrontation with the disgruntled locals over mining right; however he had seen enough to warrant further investigation along those lines.

The liquid did not meet the specification of standard issue Alliance weaponry and hardware and come to think it they did not act like Alliance soldiers, even ones that were no longer taking orders from that auspicious body, or not as the case might be.

Mal with plenty of good reasons took a dim view of anything the Alliance said or did even long before River and Simon Tam had come aboard and provided a dangerous, sometimes amusing complication to his life.

Jayne was heaving loads of the ore into the array of bins that Kaylee had scattered across the floor of the engine room and cursed as the back of his head hit an overhead beam. For her part Kaylee ignored him.

Whistling an off-key tune and walking with a loose-limbed easy grace that had had acquired from long experience of the idiosyncrasies and movements of the ship Mal crossed the distance and tapped Jayne on the shoulder.

The taller man grunted and turned around, "Damn gorram stuff. I've analyzed it half a dozen times, and Kaylee probably twice that and I still say that I've never seen it's like before."

"Will it get us around without blowing us up?" asked Mal shrugging his shoulders but taking the matter seriously nonetheless.

"Yeah," replied Jayne muttered under his breath. "But I don't think we can treat as causally as we've been doing."

To their left Kaylee finished putting the final adjustments to the engines and slithered out from underneath the exhaust manifold. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Jayne's right."

"Some of my favorite words," Jayne piped up," So what I am right about, huh?"

"Go back to loading," ordered Mal over his shoulder.

"This stuff is like nothing else I've ever seen before, and if you don't handle it with kid gloves it'll likely blow us right out of the black."

Kaylee tilted her scarf-wrapped head to one side as if thinking the matter through and then sighed.

"That is if the Alliance boys don't blow us up first. I've got the engines running again after that last hit we took and made the modifications necessary to convert the ore into a liquid fuel," replied Kaylee.

"We're good to go?" Mal asked.

"Yeah," replied Kaylee with a wave of one sweaty and grease-stained hand and then wiped on the bib of her coveralls. "If my analysis of this stuff is correct we should have asked for a higher bargaining price on the deal. It's a good thing the Alliance doesn't know about it."

"Why? Both Mal and Jayne said simultaneously.

"Cause not only is this stuff kicking as converted fuel supply, it could also with the right amount of time and equipment and technology…." Kaylee paused and stuffed her hands into the pockets of her coveralls. "It could be turned into a big damn weapon."

Mal regarded her for a moment and then exchanged a significant glance with each of them and then smiled, this one a baring of his teeth and coupled with a dangerous glint in his eyes before he said. "Well, then isn't it convenient that we got to do before the Alliance boys did."

Jayne smiled. "More money?"

Mal sighed. "Yes, Jayne, it also means more money."

"We leave the Doc and River aboard when he meet up with them, right?"

"I guess," Mal replied. "There's really no reason to take them along. This is business."

***  
Cameron Mitchell fumed, he did not liking waiting and certainly did not like being stonewalled but at the moment there really was nothing he could do about it.

"We've been contacted by a certain freighter captain regarding your visit to the planet PCX 1193, " General Landry said and get this, they want to meet with you at moon in the Magellen cluster to 'renegotiate the deal you made a few weeks back."

Vala seated next to Daniel Jackson as usual reached up to finger-comb through the strands of her long dark hair. "Can't say as I blame them; that was bad business all around. I know I would if I were him"

"Vala, we're not exactly an open market," said Daniel with a sigh.

"I know this sort of thing is not the kind of mission that I would normally send SG-1 on," Landry added, "however, speaking of open markets, I think we should meet with them and make certain that the naquada ore they do already have in their possession does not fall into more dangerous hands, if you catch my drift?"

"I should think so," Cameron Mitchell replied. "Although, I still think giving them the ore in its raw state really did no harm; and if you'll recall from our post-mission reports, the locals were getting rather restless."

"I remember," General Landry replied. "It's just that ore, even its refined state is becoming distressingly in short supply at the planets that we can reasonably hope to reach even through the Gate."

"The Ancients used the stuff to build the star gates," Vala said in a bored tone to no one in general.

"We know, and its also highly unstable," Cameron interrupted. "Not unlike certain other I could mention."

Vala rolled her eyes at him and shrugged. "How very droll, Lieutenant, and hardly very subtle."

General Landry cleared his throat. "Yes, well. I get the sense from the tone of the communiqué is we they stated that they wished to renegotiate it implied that we wanted something more substantial."

"Money," interrupted Vala. "I could grow to like these people. Will the big handsome lug be there as well?

Daniel glared at her and said. "Have I told you lately that you really are incorrigible?

"Not within the last forty eight hours, no," she replied.

Daniel blushed and then added. "Well, at this point they might not wish to give up possession of what they already have, but maybe we can work out something were we can show them how to safely handle the stuff."

Landry nodded. "Just be careful, okay?"

"We'll make preparations to leave right away, Sir," Cameron Mitchell briskly replied and with that his team and the various personnel called in for the briefing dispersed to attend to numerous other tasks in and around the Cheyenne mountain base.

General Landry sighed and shook his head. "Good hunting, Colonel Mitchell, Lord only knows that I've got a funny feeling deep in my gut that's telling me that you're going to need all the luck you can get and then some."  
**  
Mal had chosen this spot not only for it remoteness but also for its navigational hazards for in order for a ship to get here it would have to steer clear of a asteroid belt and several other spatial anomalies that had a tendency to play havoc with navigational systems.

Still, Mitchell and his team had arrived well ahead of schedule just as they had promised that they would.

At least he now had a name for the ore they had acquired, Naquada. Nice name, but not a name that he recognized from any of the Earth-that was Languages that he recognized; but if he were forced to hazard a guess he would have said it sounded a bit like a mash-up between Greek and Chinese.

"Welcome to Purgatory," said Mal as Mitchell and his team arrived at the designated coordinates leaving Teal'c behind in the 'borrowed' and modified Dart ship in a sync Rous orbit over the outpost.

"Is that really its name," asked Daniel Jackson."

"Come now, Daniel," remarked Vala, "in all the time I've known you, I can't believe you could really be that gullible. I believe the good Captain is pulling your chain."

Mitchell looked around at their surroundings which reminded him of the set dressing out of the old westerns he used to watch with his father growing up, and then wondered if he had somehow managed to misalign the cartouches on the Gate that instead of taking them into the PCX Bellreophon Galaxy as they had intended to do upon receiving the coordinates to meet with Captain Reynolds and his crew they had instead been spirited away to the Old West. It was remotely possible, after all, stranger things that had happened to the various members of SG-1 in its day, why not now?

"We got your message," Mitchell said without going through the preliminaries. I suspect by now you know what you've got on your hands is no ordinary ore. Whose you're uh, engineering expert?"

A woman with a multi-colored head scarf stepped forward. "That would be."

"Lt. Cameron Mitchell," he replied as he extended his arm to shake her hand. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Ma'am. Although I vaguely recall seeing you the first time we crossed paths?"

"I don't think so," replied Kaylee.

"Right then," Mitchell cleared his throat. "If you'll allow me to proceed. By now I suspect that you've had a chance to analyze the ore and you've no doubt discovered that it has well, properties, Doctor Jackson could give the technical play by play, but if we allow him, we'll be here for a month, so we'll skip all that."

"I resent that! Exclaimed Daniel Jackson, "While I am well aware that I do have a tendency to expound at length, I am not, nor have I ever been considered pedantic!"

Vala laughed and caught a glimmer of smile ghosting across the serious expression of Captain Reynolds and the folks that had accompanied him. "Only proves Cam's point, dear boy."

"oh, shut up!" muttered Daniel under his breath.

Mitchell, Reynolds and Kaylee walked over to a display tank mounted on a platform.

"How much is this stuff really worth?" Jayne muttered as the three went over to inspect a sample of the 'merchandise' that they had lugged down to the moon's surface.

"Supply and demand, dear boy," muttered Vala as she sidled over to stand beside the big man. "Take it from an expert in these matters, it's all about supply and demand and just how much the market will bear."

"Sounds too much like work," muttered Jayne with a wry grin.

"Spoken like a man after my own heart," she replied with a wicked grin of her own.

**  
Hours later after several times as one or the other member of the two groups nearly came to blows a high-pitched whine brought things to a stand-still. It came from up above and a space-ship emerged from out of the star-sprinkled back drop of space. It came in for a landing its engines purring and landed

To Daniel's way of thinking the lines and general proportions of the craft reminded him of nothing so much as an insect, specifically a praying mantis. And by no stretch of the imagination probably meant trouble. Tearing his gaze away from the ship and its pilot Daniel turned back to Mitchell and Captain Mal Reynolds. "I think we should wrap this up as quickly as we can."

"Is it just me, or is it getting rather crowded around here?" Vala asked of no one in particular.

How the Operative not only managed to located them on this out-of the way on the fringes of Alliance space Mal would probably never know; but after all this time it was becoming more than a damn sight irritating.

 

Zoe and Wash had hacked into the Alliance database shortly before their arrival at the moon and had not been able to find anything, but certainly not for lack of trying.

Mal held out higher hopes for Lieutenant Mitchell and his crew. They were the ones who had given the stuff its name in the first place and it was obvious to anyone with the eyes to see that they know more about the stuff than they were willing to let on.

In the back of his mind, Mal thought, "This ought to be very interesting, not to mention profitable. Oh hell, now I'm beginning to think like Jayne and that's never a good sign.' Mal forced the errant thought to a back corner of his mind and concentrated on the task at hand.

It required attention. The Operative was only one man but he was a dangerous one. Okay, they had outnumbered at least but that really wasn't all that telling because with a flick of his wrist and a tap of a button that he wore on his arm the Operative had summoned several other remote drones from the interior of his own ship to back him up.

"Captain Reynolds, fancy meeting you here."

"Friend of yours?" Mitchell asked as he glanced over his shoulder at Mal.

"No."

"Bad news?" added Daniel while in the back of his mind he wondered if leaving Teal'c stationed above the moon with the ship at the time had been more than merely a formality because they needed someone there in order to get them off the moon and back to a planet with a working stargate, but now it just might just become their proverbial ace in the hole. Teal'c would not have been caught by surprise so they still had an exit strategy should they be needing one.

"Yeah." Jayne Cobb was a man of a few words, but right now considering the amount of firepower that the Operative had at his disposal and add to the fact that they were out maneuvered, outgunned, a little of that fancy talking might just save all of their collective hides and getting away with a little cold hard cash on the side, well, that would just be a slice.

"You might have mentioned that there were other 'interested parties to this deal of yours before we committed to it," Mitchell added.

"Look I don't like what's happened any better than you do, Mitchell," Mal yelled, "but at least I know that the Operative and by extent the Alliance is a known danger. And we certainly don't need your help to deal with them."

"Captain," whispered Zoe as she stepped up to take a defensive position at his side. "Look, I don't meant to interrupt, but we're running out of time. Either we try and talk our way out of this or we fight."

Mitchell, frustrated and unable to come up with a better or even an alternative strategy under the circumstances darted a brief glance at the attractive black woman and nodded. "She makes a hell of a lot more sense than anything else I've heard around here lately."

The Operative arrived along with several enlisted men carrying ominous looking bundles and crates floating on anti-gravity units and weapons balanced over the shoulders. The odds were improving, to Mal's way of thinking. At least the known and very dangerous thorn in his side was not planning to blow his ship up and then come down to dispose of the remainder of the crew.

At that instant Mal very much wanted to radio Wash and possibly even Simon Tam aboard the Firefly and ask to an emergency pick up, the damn liquid ore, pardon, the Naquada really was not worth this much expenditure of man power and effort.

"Captain Reynolds," the Operative replied sounding as if they were two old acquaints passing each other on busy city street instead of two adversaries playing a very dangerous game of cat and mouse.

"Yeah, if you're waiting to see if I'll surrender either my ship or my crew," Mal smiled a wicked smile that showed all of his pearly white teeth. "You're in for a damn gorram long wait."

"There is no need for threats Mr. Reynolds, after all we are both gentlemen. As much as my superiors might wish me to arrest you and bring you in for questioning, I am here on rather different business. The Operative smiled again; it was not even remotely charming.

"Great a crooked government agent," remarked Daniel in dull tones.

"Not just any crooked government agent," whispered Kaylee who had come to stand beside him.

"The problem is he's the one honest upright guy who can't be corrupted or bribed or swayed from his course of action once they set him loose.

"Wonderful. Mitchell sighed and finger-combed the tangles from his tightly curled strands of wheat-blond hair. "What the hell does he want?

"Why don't you ask him yourself, Lieutenant Mitchell," Jayne sneered.

"I did not realize you had other interested buyers," the Operative replied.

"You want a cut of the ore," Zoe remarked. She stepped forward directly into his line of sigh her weapon holstered in the pocket of her khaki trousers, a defiant gleam in her eyes and an dangerous expression on her sweaty-damp face. "I've got only two words for you. "No Deal!"

"Zoe! Wait!" Don't! Oh, hell, I hope she isn't gonna do what I think she's gonna do" Jayne Cobb with Cameron Mitchell close on his heel as if they had been on the same wavelength broke out into a flat footed sprint across the uneven terrain of the moon the artificially produced oxygen of the terra-formed moon fluting in and out of their legs as they raced to catch up with lithe and very fast Zoe Warren before she detonated the naquada in its portable container.

"Highly explosive when exposed to extreme temperatures," can't we discuss this some more!" Jayne yelled.

"What's going on back there."

"I'm destroying the sample, Sir," replied Zoe and in an undertone to Jayne Cobb she said. "It's not like we don't have more of the damn stuff and as if it was nothing more than afterthought. "It's more trouble than it's worth anyway and from what your Daniel Jackson's told us we need more in the way of technical processing methods to make it any good at all."

With that she turned around with her arms crossed over her chest. "What's it worth it to you to get out of here in one piece?"

"You would rather blow yourselves up than cut a deal with the Alliance?" the Operative asked, unflappable as ever. It was becoming damn irritating.

Mal and the Operative stared each other down. "Supply and demand. I suspect that we will be seeing each other again, Captain. I look forward to it." With that he pressed a button attached to a device he wore on his wrist and a beam of light streamed down from the ship and he and his mean vanished as the transporter beam whisked them away.

"In a word. Yes."

Mal nodded and then turned around to face Mitchell and his team. "Looks like we have ourselves about,: he turned to exchange a glance with Zoe who responded by raising her arms out in front of her twice with all ten fingers spread, and then turned around again, "about twenty minutes before this moon and everything on it becomes a glimmer in the verse's eye, so I suggest we pack up and get the hell outta here."

 

Conclusion

"It's a good thing that was only sample, any quantity of three to five kilos probably would have made a while big enough to hide of the alliance honking ore freighters in," Zoe remarked.

"I've made a decision, you take this damn stuff off our hands and in return maybe you help us make some repairs on the ship," Mal muttered.

Mitchell smiled and reached out his hand to for the other man to shake on it. "You've got yourselves a deal. In fact, I was just about to suggest the same thing. In fact, we might be able to arrange something with our friend Teal"c and find an alternative fuel supply.

"Hopefully, one less likely to go boom while we're still standing beside it," added Vala.

"You'll get no argument from me," Kaylee chimed while darting a hopeful and sheepish glance at Daniel Jackson who returned her glance with a brilliant smile of his own.

**Author's Note:**

> written for the 2008 challenge


End file.
